Thursday, January 19, 2006

Your Cell Phone Taxes Pay For The War....And It Could Get Worse

If you own a cell phone, each time you pay your bill, you're paying a three percent tax for the war effort. Sounds like a topic that could get political? It's not...because the war you're paying to support is the Spanish American War, which happened in 1898.

The three percent phone-line tax, originally intended to pay for the Spanish American War back in 1898, is still being collected by most wireless providers as the "federal excise tax". A Telco funded consumer advocacy organization called "MyWireless.org" is directing users to try and get this money back from the government (how about shelving those bogus wireless regulatory recovery fees too while we're playing concerned activist huh?).

"We're required to continue collecting that tax from our customers until the IRS tells us to stop doing that," a spokesman for Verizon Wireless told a local Ohio news station.

At one point the the IRS and Treasury Department were considering expanding the law so it also covered broadband and VoIP connections. Geez....watch out for THAT one!

A recent USA Today news article (“Cellphone rulings could mean billions in tax refunds”, December 13, 2005) explained that the IRS is continuing to collect a 3% Federal Excise Tax from wireless users, despite the fact that nine federal courts have ruled the tax unlawful. If you want to take a stand....tell Congress to repeal this outdated and excessive tax...write your Congressman!

For more information on how you can take some action to protect yourself from the tax expanding to broadband and VoIP...and support repeal of the tax on your cell phone...visit MyWireless.org.